Garcia looking sharp in more ways than one

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- He was feisty, combative, colorful and effective.

And you should have seen the guy's performance on the golf course.

A man in Sergio Garcia's position can afford to smile. (Getty Images)

Showing every indication that he's ready to take the long-awaited step to major-championship stardom, Sergio Garcia lit up the Carnoustie Golf Links on Saturday and then did likewise with his ill-intended inquisitors afterward.

The litany of failures and shortcomings in his career have been chronicled all week in occasionally painful detail, so when Garcia sensed that he was about to be prodded about his inability to win a major championship, he came out swinging. Not to pull scabs off old wounds, but…

"Okay, don't," Garcia said sharply. "Next question, please. You just said you don't want to bring bad memories. Don't ask it. Next question."

So far, he's had all the right answers anyway.

The star-crossed 27-year-old, after more disappointments in majors than he would obviously care to recall, shot a 3-under 69 Saturday to carry a three-shot lead into the final round at the 136th British Open.

The suddenly steely Garcia, who didn't have a bogey on his card Saturday, is 9 under par and threatening to win in wire-to-wire fashion. Only relatively unheralded Steve Stricker, an American who has had trouble closing the deal this year on the PGA Tour himself, is within five shots.

At long last, and perhaps more than a tad overdue, he's poised to be numero uno in his 35th major as a professional.

"The only thing I can do is control myself and that's about it," Garcia said. "So I think if I am in control, the way I'm hitting the ball, it's right there for the taking."

Taking beats shaking any day, and there have been plenty of times where he's been accused of the latter. Garcia has twice played in the final group at a major, at the U.S. Open in 2002 and last year at the British, but has never held the 54-hole lead at a Grand Slam event. Moreover, in each instance, he was paired with eventual winner Tiger Woods, who quickly left him in the dust.

Woods, the two-time defending Open champion, is a whopping eight shots back in a five-way tie for 15th, which is a relief in itself. That much, he was willing to discuss, to a point.

"It definitely doesn't hurt," Garcia said.